Planned Parenthood supporters and some Democratic insiders believe the "personhood" amendment fight in Mississippi — which resulted in a lopsided loss for the bill's supporters — has served as a wake-up call for its base.

The defeat of the amendment, which would have defined life as starting at the moment of conception and also placed a sweeping ban on abortions, came after months of a debate in Washington and at the state level over the funding of Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of services including health screenings but which has become the fulcrum of a social issues fight by Republicans.

Now, at a time when Democrats are suggesting Republicans have gone to "extreme" edges heading into 2012 — and with social issues having stayed mostly on the back burner amid a bad economy — some believe the ground may be shifting.

"It's going to be interesting," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

"It has escaped no one's notice that Congress went after Planned Parenthood hammer and tong, went after birth control, went after cancer screening."

Richards argued that while the focus on such issues has traditional been a province of the "values" fight, she sees it as "an economic issue as well."

"Women's health doesn't come with a party label," she said, adding that there is a wide concern among women from all corners of the political aisle over the impact of the sluggish economy on their ability to access birth control.

Because of the economic crisis, she said, there are "a lot of folks ... choosing between birth control pills and groceries or utter necessities."

And yet, there is another corner to the debate, some argue — the simple notion of an "overreach" related to regulation.

"That wasn't just women" who made up the 59 percent who voted against the "personhood" amendment in Mississippi, a fairly conservative stronghold, said Democratic pollster Joel Benenson. "This was an issue that was a stunning defeat because of the influences over the Republican Party [that] are outside the mainstream and there are no voices in the Republican Party as they go nationwide."

The big question, of course, is how it all plays with independents, who are widely acknowledged as the critical factor in deciding the outcome of races next year, from the presidency on down.

There is some data showing that the question of "overregulation," and concerns about overreaching — a message that was sent in races other than Mississippi on Election Day two weeks ago — could have an impact.

A poll done by Benenson's firm with Project New West in June, of 1,401 registered voters nationally, showed that 79 percent of voters agreed with the statement that "the government should not be getting involved in the decision to end a pregnancy, it's better left to a woman, her family and her faith." Sixty-two percent agreed strongly.